conspicuous consumption

[marycatelli]

Was recently in an online discussion about conspicuous consumption.  Triggered by a comment about a movie princess done up in such finery that she couldn't do anything.

Well, yeah.  How else could you show off that you didn't have to do anything, you had servants for that?

Though there are other forms.  Wearing white to show you didn't have to go out in the dirt, and could have it laundered after every use.  Using the finest cloth.  Having it embroidered.  Etc.

So what would the -- ehem -- Fairy Folk regard as conspicuous consumption?  More elaborate glamor --

A moment then the volume spread,
And one short spell therein he read:
It had much of glamour might;
Could make a ladye seem a knight;
The cobwebs on a dungeon wall
Seem tapestry in lordly hall;
A nut-shell seem a gilded barge,
A sheeling seem a palace large,
And youth seem age, and age seem youth:
All was delusion, nought was truth

could no doubt beat out simpler spells, but what beyond that?

Is cloth better than a gown made of cobweb and dead leaves and plentiful enchantments?  Does it change with the kind of cloth?  If, like Puck, you can circle the globe in half an hour, you could fetch back silk, and so distance did not matter for rarity -- if you can circle the globe like that.  If it became easier to steal from humans because it became cheaper there, might it shift from being more impressive, because real, to less impressive, needing no skill at enchantments?

Are fugitive spells that last only the night contemptible for their frailty (and cheapness) or expensive for the lavishness in throwing them about?  hmmmmm

Comments

[nagasvoice.livejournal.com]

You could, as with the Academy in art circles of the 19th century, have quite some dispute on this, since it's a great divider for establishing cliques and perfect for gossip, since what matters is who's espousing which opinion, and who's a rabble-rousing bohemian disrespecting established Fae traditions.

[marycatelli]

And who's an old fuddy stick-in-the-mud.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I *love* this question! (Also the poem quotation!)

I suspect that the fugitive spell would be considered more sumptuous--I have a feeling the fairy folk place little value on permanence.

I'm thinking too how conspicuous consumption of any sort works only when you need to impress someone--so, for example, the Tokugawas building Nikko shrine, and gilding the whole thing, and building Nijô Palace in Kyoto, so fancy. Whereas meanwhile the emperor had Katsura detatched villa, so very simple and understated. Sometimes, in fact, having the vividly ostentatious thing earns you contempt--In The Perilous Gard this comes into play when the Lady feeds all the human prisoners fancy meat dishes, whereas she and the other Fairy Folk eat just plain porridge.

[marycatelli]

Yeah, but making something permanent shows off your magic, and indicates how lavishly you are willing to spend it -- to expend so much on something so trivial, you must be swimming in it.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Good point!

[headnoises.livejournal.com]

Need to switch it regularly, too, no?

[marycatelli]

That would also help show off.